How to Live, Learn, and Love
by Deadly Stormfly
Summary: Astrid, lead singer of a famous rock band. She is forced to return home with her band for their senior year. Hiccup, is a young deaf boy that just wants to be accepted. What'll happen when these people meet? Will Hiccup finally have friends, or just be rejected again. Will Astrid learn how to open up and move on from her past before it tracks her down and destroy her? Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**How to Live, Learn, and Love**

**Hello everyone this is my first How to Train Your Dragon story so I do hope that you enjoy it. Just to let everyone know I am learning sign language myself but I have only just started and I find the language so fascinating and interesting to learn, I really can't wait to dive into the culture of the deaf community more. This idea sort of just popped into my head one day while I was practicing on my vocabulary words and the movie How to Train Your Dragon happened to be on tv one night while I was studying. By the way has anyone seen the second movie yet!? I won't give away anything, but it was AMAZING! Anyway please review and let me know if you think I should continue on with this story, enjoy! **

**Chapter 1 **

The loud noise could no longer hurt him and for that Hiccup was grateful. Sure living in a world of silence was usually pretty lonely for the young teenager, but it wasn't anything that Hiccup wasn't used to. Despite what his father will tell people; Hiccup knew it was because of his parents that he lost his hearing at such a young age. His father Stoick, is the owner of the popular bar in their small town Berk. Stoick had hand built this place to look like one of those tavern like bars from the old days and the people of Berk absolutely loved it. Most of the waiters and bartenders were even dressed like Vikings, sometimes even the townspeople would come into the bar all dressed up in Viking gear. Stoick would allow the people to take pictures so that they could hang them all over the walls. Berk's Bar was opened up just a few years before Hiccup's birth, because both of his parents were always working they had often brought little Hiccup along. Despite having his own little play pen area in his parent's office the walls were never silent proof and very thin. Music was always blasting at high dangerous volumes, dangerous for a small baby or toddler at least. When he was about four years old the doctor told Hiccup and his parents that he would eventually become completely deaf. Of course his parents were upset but at that point there was nothing they could do. They still continued to bring him into the bar and by the time he was six he had lost his hearing completely. Hiccup remembered that day clearly, when everything became silent forever, he couldn't even hear himself cry over the painful loss.

Hiccup had been lost in thought over the past when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. The young teenager turned around to his father standing there with his notebook in hand. Looking at Hiccup's father you would never guess that they were related. Unlike Hiccup his father was massive, he had a long beard; and he was highly respected by the townspeople of Berk. Meanwhile Hiccup was small and scrawny, people often called him deaf and dumb; he was always picked on at school and didn't have very many friends. In fact the only friends he did have were Fishlegs and Toothless. Fishlegs moved to Berk with his mother a little over a year ago now, once Hiccup realized he knew sign language the teenager had been excited to finally have someone to communicate with while not needing pen or paper. Toothless was Hiccup's husky canine companion, Hiccup had rescued the dog when he was a lonely pup, abandoned by his previous owner and the two have been close ever since.

Stoick had wrote down his message to Hiccup. _**'Closing Time'.**_ Two simple words that meant it was time for him to get cleaning, Hiccup just nodded and set aside the last of his dishes away for the evening. Stoic wrote another message after handing him the keys to the bar. _**'Lock up, see you at home'**_. And that was that, his father turned to leave the kitchen and once again Hiccup watched his form disappear. Hiccup often wondered if his father even really saw Hiccup as a son. The tired teenager glances at the clock to see that it was two in the morning, during the weekends Hiccup often worked from 7pm to 3 or 4 in the morning, but during the weekdays he would only work from 5 to 9pm. His job duties were to keep the place clean and to gather up empty glasses while keeping up with the dishes so that the bartenders wouldn't run out of glasses.

When he stepped out into the main room Hiccup was surprised to see that his father was still here. But he was even more surprised to see an old family friend. "Hiccup!" Gobber said happily. One look at the older man and Hiccup could see that he was obviously drunk. Gobber was Stoick's childhood friend and Hiccup has known him his entire life. Unlike his father, Hiccup actually got along with the energetic man, he was the only person that didn't treat him like some kind of outcast. Gobber was well aware that Hiccup could read lips like an expert, so long as the person didn't talk too terribly fast then the teenager could understand most of what someone was saying by reading their lips. "You've been growing my boy!" Gobber grins that goofy smile. Hiccup can't help but smile back despite his older friend's drunken state. Thankful for Gobber for always talking slow enough for him to read his lips he nods and gives him a shy grin back. "Good, good, you'll be perfect!"

"Gobber what on earth are you going on about now?" Stoick questions his friend suspiciously. Hiccup on the other hand gave his father that blank stare he often did when he couldn't hear what he was saying, Stoick never spoke slow or clear for him.

"You remember that band I started to manage a few years back right?" Gobber looks over at his friend and once again Hiccup is left in the world of silence. Although when Gobber spoke to Hiccup personally he was careful on how he communicated with the deaf child, but he often got distracted easily if he had to communicate with another hearing person.

"The Vikings?" Stoick asks.

Gobber nods. "Yup, all those kiddies are from here. Born and raise. It's been a few years since they've been home due to all their touring and becoming famous worldwide and all. Anyway since they'll be starting their senior year tomorrow I thought it would be good for them to take a year off and have some time to be with their families you know. They'll still be able to do shows on weekends and holidays from time to time. Of course not all of them are happy with the idea of going back to a normal school" Gobber chuckled. "Anyway I thought maybe that Hiccup here could show them around the school since he'll be in the same year as them" Gobber explained.

Stoick frowns. "I don't know Gobber do you really want Hiccup's help? Putting a deaf kid with a bunch of spoiled pop stars is like putting a Viking into a battle field without their weapon"

"Now listen here Stoick your son is a smart kid, smarter than you ever give him credit for. And the Vikings are a far cry from being spoiled pop stars, for one they earned their fans with the music that they write together, and their genre is rock and roll, not pop" Gobber defends irritated. Hiccup blinks in confusion and wonders why Gobber suddenly looks so angry. He was usually always happy and joking around, it was very rare to ever see him upset.

Stoick glares at his friend. "If you think Hiccup can handle with being around a bunch of wild musicians then by all means throw him into a pit of fire. But I'm telling you that Hiccup won't want anything to do with your band, it's not like he can listen to their music and he refuses to talk because he hates how people think he sounds weird" Stoick explains.

Gobber just grins that same goofy drunken smile. "Don't worry mate, by the end of this year I have a feeling that Hiccup is going to make a big difference in their lives"

Stoick just shakes his head. "Whatever you say, but your responsible for whatever happens to Hiccup when it comes to your band" the father warns.

Gobber nods and finally turns to face Hiccup. "Hiccup I'm going to need your help" Gobber spoke slowly and carefully so that Hiccup could understand him. Hiccup blinks; again he is confused and wonders just what exactly his father and Gobber have been talking about.

The next day Hiccup was beyond nervous, he couldn't believe what Gobber had begged him to do. He was supposed to be guiding around some famous rock band around the school! Didn't Gobber realize how insane this all sounded, asking a deaf kid to guide around some famous rock band like it was no big deal!? Too bad for Hiccup he could never say no to someone like Gobber, honestly Hiccup just didn't have a mean bone in his body, which was exactly what made him such an easy target for her classmates, that in the fact that they could snicker and mock in front of him without worrying if he could hear or not. Despite not being able to hear, most folks at his school didn't know about his lip reading skills, still most usually talked too fast for him anyway, which often irritated the lonely teenager. It was Monday morning, the first day of Hiccup's senior year and he couldn't wait for the year to be over so that he could finally leave this town for good. Although people often accused him of being dumb simply because he was deaf, that wasn't the case. In fact he always had straight A's with a great point average above 4.0. He was always reading, ever sense he could pick up a book he had been reading whatever he could get his hands on. What Hiccup really loved to do was draw; the boy could sketch for hours if he had his way. He hopes that with his grades that he'll be able to get into a good art school. He even has his own ideas of a great comic book series, with so many various ideas and sketches to work with, maybe he can even work with an animation studio someday, that was Hiccup's biggest dream to hopefully fulfill someday. His father on the other hand had other ideas for Hiccup; he wanted Hiccup to take over the business one day, something that Hiccup had no desire for.

"Hey Hiccup" Fishlegs says slowly so that his friend can read his lips clearly. Hiccups nods and smiles back at him. The excited friend starts to sign to Hiccup, asking if the band was here yet.

Fishlegs joins Hiccup at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the school building. It was pretty early and the parking lot was still almost empty with only a handful of students hanging out by their vehicles with their friends. Fishlegs was a heavy young senior that held a great love for food; his dream was to become a great cook when he got older. Aside from food though Fishlegs was in love with the famous band known as The Vikings. When Hiccup had texted to Fishlegs about his morning plans the boy squealed and begged to tag along so that he could meet his favorite rock band. Although Hiccup wasn't sure if letting Fishlegs join in on the tour with him was such a good idea. He knew that he owed Fishlegs for being such a good friend to him this past year; he just hoped that the band wouldn't mind. He also knew it would be good to have Fishlegs around to help be his translator for the band so that they wouldn't get too frustrated with his lack of communication skills.

It wasn't until about 10 minutes later did a big large black limousine finally pull in front of the school building. Students all rushed over to crowd around the limo with excitement and curiosity. Most folks in Berk were middle class citizens, while only a handful were actually rich. It wasn't every day that someone would arrive to Berk High in a limousine. Meanwhile Fishlegs was jumping up and down, clapping his hands with full excitement. Hiccup has never seen the band since he never watches tv much, or listen to music. Fishlegs tried to tell Hiccup as much as he could about his favorite band, but he was just never interested in learning. Why learn about something you can't even listen to anyway?

Gobber was the first one to step out of the limousine. He grinned as he made his way over to Hiccup. Using his hands he signed to the boy, thanking him for his help. Hiccup grinned proudly; he could see that Gobber's vocabulary words in sign language have gotten better. Although he only knew some basic words in sign language, it made Hiccup feel good that he was interested in learning enough words to be able to talk to him.

"Are The Vikings really in there?" Fishlegs happily pointed to the limo.

Gobber grinned. "They sure are, come on out crew. The world is waiting" He says proudly.

A boy that was slightly taller than Hiccup and much more muscular steps out first. The crowd of students cheered loudly when they realized it was the famous drum player Snotlout Jorgenson. Hiccup noticed that the teen looked aggravated; he also noticed the expensive looking clothes worn by the rock star. Snotlout had on dark expensive blue jeans, a red flaming t-shirt, and nice sneakers to match.

"I can't believe that you're actually making us do this Gobber" Snotlout says irritably. Although Hiccup was only able to catch a few words, he knew that whatever the famous rock star said that he clearly wasn't happy. He was glaring at Gobber with stubbornness.

"Oh stop your pouting and just be happy, this may actually be the last time that you get to have so much free time with your families" Gobber replied.

"But our families are so boring" Another famous rock star steps out and the crowd go crazy again as they see it is Tuffnut, a guitar player.

"And this town is so lame" Ruffnut agrees as she also steps out of the limo and stands between her twin brother and Snotlout. The twins wore matching blue jeans; Ruffnut wore a hot pink t-shirt with a black skull at the center of it, and nice black and pink sneakers. Tuffnut wore a dark blue shirt that had a black skull on the center, along with white and black sneakers to match. They both had their arms folded as they leaned against the limousine. Normally the rock stars would be loving their fans and enjoying the attention, but they were just sending silent death glares over towards their manager.

"Astrid hurry and come on out" Gobber says, ignoring the twins complain.

"She refuses to speak to you" Snotlout explains.

"I don't care if you're upset with me Astrid; you shouldn't be late for your first day" Gobber states.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh Ruffnut you are like the best guitar player in the world!" Fishlegs squeals as rushes over to her.

"Uh thanks" She eyes him warily, clearly uninterested in the large boy.

"Hey I thought I was the best!?" Tuffnut complains.

Ruffnut rolls her eyes. "Yeah, you wish you were the best" She grins and punches her brother playfully, but it was still hard enough to make him wine.

"Astrid if you don't get yourself out here I will drag you out myself" Gobber warns.

The second Astrid Hofferson stepped out of the limousine the crowd of students went wild. People started taking photos and screaming their love to the famous singer. Astrid however didn't even acknowledge her fans, her foul mood kept her from enjoying the attention that she usually loved. Hiccup on the other hand had been dumbfounded by the sheer beauty this singer possessed. Her long beautiful hair was neatly designed as it was parted to her left while braided in the back. She had on black tight jeans, a red belt with spikes around it, a black t-shirt with an ax design on the front of her shirt, with the band name written above the ax, and laced black boots to complete her outfit. To Hiccup she looked like a dangerous Goddess, he wasn't sure if he she be in awe, or afraid by the young singer.

"Nice of you to join us princess" Snotlout snorts.

Astrid punches Snotlout in the shoulder hard enough for him to yelp out in pain as his rubs his now sore shoulder; the twins just snickered and laughed. Astrid eyes the school warily as she refuses to look at her manager and tries to block out the screaming crowd and flashing lights.

"Now then, now that everyone is ready, let's all head inside to the main office shall we" Gobber says happily.

Astrid just rolls her eyes as she hears her band members muttering hateful words while they followed their manager inside. The young singer noticed the scrawny looking boy staring at her, his eyes were filled with so much awe and wonder that it somewhat startled the prideful singer, though she didn't show it. She just glares at the boy and he quickly turns away to follow the larger teenager that was flirting away with poor Ruffnut and asking her all kinds of questions. The band manager allows Hiccup to show him where the main office was and Gobber was greeted by a kindly old woman at the front desk. She was a short woman, had grey hair that was braided into the pigtail style.

"Hello Ma'am" Gobber introduces kindly. The group of teenagers were standing behind him with fouls looks, most had their arms folded over their chest as their backpacks hung loosely over their shoulders. Hiccup stood beside Gobber, only because he was still nervous about having to interact with the band, meanwhile Fishlegs was standing beside Ruffnut.

The old woman looks up at Gobber with a friendly smile. "Good morning" She glances at a piece of paper and then back at the manager. "You must be the man in charge of our new students?" she questions.

"Gobber Belch, I'm the manager of the Vikings. We've arrived early in order to pick up their schedules and so that young Hiccup here can guide them around the school" He explains.

The old woman nods, she goes through some paper work and finally lifts a few of them off her desk and hands them over to Gobber. "Here we are; everyone's schedule should be in there. The teachers have already been warned about your arrival and has most likely locked the doors of the school until the first bell rings to allow them in for their classes. This will give you the time you need to have the tour of the school without screaming fans getting in the way. The principle of the school is already having a meeting with the students outside about your arrival and explaining a few safety rules and how they must behave and not act crazy just because the new students arriving today happen to be famous" she explains kindly.

"Thank you Ma'am, you've been a big help" Gobber says politely. He then turns around to face his crew. "All right kiddies I'll be on my way then" He announces.

"Yeah sure, just leave us here to be eaten alive by crazed fans" Snotlout grumbles.

"I'm sure you'll all be fine, besides you've got Hiccup here to guide you around, you'll be in good hands" Gobber said before taking his leave.

Poor Hiccup felt like the spotlight was shining brightly in his eyes as everyone turned to stare at the scrawny boy. Hiccup blinks and waves his hand shyly; he then signs _**Hi My name Hiccup**_. Everyone is stunned and confused to why Hiccup is moving his hands around, Snotlout is the first to respond.

"Are freaking kidding me!? That idiot manager signed up some scrawny little deaf kid to be our guide?" The Drummer shouts angrily.

"Hiccup isn't scrawny" Fishlegs defends in a tiny voice.

"Just look at him, he looks like a stick" Snotlout waves his hands at Hiccup's direction.

"Dude so he can't hear anything!?" Tuffnut questions.

"He's deaf idiot, what do you think" Ruffnut rolls her eyes.

"Not all deaf people are completely deaf, there are deaf people that still have some hearing ability" Fishlegs explained wisely.

Astrid ignored everyone's complaints as she sighed in frustrations, just what the hell was Gobber thinking about letting this boy guide her band around? Snotlout was known to be a big headed bully, the poor kid would be eaten alive by him, and the twins were so stupid and ignorant that they would continue to ask annoying questions about the kid.

"So can he hear us then?" Astrid questions, speaking for the first time as she stares at the scrawny boy. He wore a blank look as he stared at her group and she found herself wondering what was he thinking.

Fishlegs shakes his head. "Hiccup lost his hearing completely when he just six" he answered.

"Man that sucks" Tuffnut said.

"Yeah, so does that mean he can't even enjoy music?" Ruffnut asks.

"There are ways that deaf people can enjoy music, but not like the way hearing people do" Fishlegs answered.

Astrid couldn't even imagine what it would be like to not be able to hear; music was and always has been her entire life. She studies the scrawny kid curiously, although her face was cold and unreadable to the outside world.

"Anyway we should start the tour, Hiccup?" Fishlegs turns to face his friend and sees that Hiccup is watching him. "_**We start tour now?**_" He signs for the deaf boy and speaks what he signs so that the band members know what he is saying. They all watched with intense fascination, all expect Snotlout that is; he just turned his face away with his arms folded as he rolled his eyes when Fishlegs had started to sign.

Hiccup gives a small weak smile and nods as he makes his way out the door with the group behind him. When they started the tour Hiccup began signing where everyone's classroom was and which professor taught those classes while Fishlegs translated everything for him. Astrid couldn't take her eyes off as the boy signed, the way he moved his hands were so graceful, it was hard to believe that this scrawny boy could be so graceful in his hand movements, something told Astrid that he was probably clumsy by nature, but when it came to his hand movements it was like he was in complete control. She has never seen anyone sign before so it was like a whole new world to the famous young singer, it was strange that all his hand movements actually formed words of communication. The tour lasted about thirty minutes and was finished as Hiccup brought everyone over to their lockers, he pulled his backpack in front of him and handed everyone their own personally locks for their lockers, along with a tiny piece of paper that had their combinations on it. Hiccup started to sign again.

"What's he saying now?" Snotlout questions annoyed.

"He said that the bell is about to ring in the next five minutes" Fishlegs replied. "You all might want to head to your homeroom classes so that you won't be attacked by your fans" Fishlegs suggested.

"Whatever" Astrid said; as she stashed her lock into her backpack. Because she didn't have any books yet, there was no sense in leaving her lock on an empty locker.

Hiccup gently touches Astrid's shoulder as she is about to turn away, irritated and thinking it is one of her band members she turns around with her scowling glare. "What?!" she questions irritably. Hiccup blinks but starts to sign nervously, the graceful movements now gone due to suddenly having to communicate with the most gorgeous girl he has ever seen. Astrid is confused and looks over at Fishlegs. "What is he saying?" she asks.

Fishlegs smiles. "He's saying that he would be happy to walk you to class, you two share the same homeroom teacher" he explained.

Astrid looks over at the shy boy who is looking at her nervously, she sighs. "Tell him he can do whatever he wants" She shrugs, and watches Fishlegs as he signs to Hiccup. In that moment she saw Hiccup's eyes light up and for some reason she felt something move inside her, but her cold stubborn side wouldn't allow anyone to see that. The boy walks over to Astrid and starts to sign again, but this time more excitedly. She just blinks in confusion, suddenly getting a headache. It was like trying to understand someone speaking French or Spanish, it was impossible if you didn't even have a small hint of knowledge about the language. She turned to glance over at Fishlegs again but saw that the boy had left with the rest of her band members. "Umm, sorry I don't understand?" She frowns in confusion. The boy's sudden excitement turns into a disappointed look that for some reason bothered the young singer. Suddenly he swings his backpack in front of him and pulls out a pen and paper. Flinging the backpack back over his shoulder he starts to write down something and then hands his notebook over to Astrid. She reads the note and looks back at him warily. '_**You look really pretty'**_ She read silently in her head. She sees that Hiccup is still signing the same word to her. She notices how his right hand, and fingers are closed over the thumb, it is placed at or just below the lips. It then moves into a counterclockwise circle around his face, opening into a "5" position, to indicate the whole face. At the end of the circling movement his hand would come to rest in its initial position, at or just below the lips. Astrid decided to try and mimic the sign he was using and he suddenly smiles brightly, he walks over closer to her and points to a word in the notebook he had given to her. "Oh, this means pretty?" She asks, looking over at him. She then feels like an idiot for asking something that he obviously couldn't hear, but is surprised when she sees him nodding. She is confused now more than ever, didn't that large boy say he had lost all of his hearing completely?

Hiccup could see the look of confusion that the young star wore, he gives her another small smile as he points to his lips and then at the notebook. Still confused she hands the notebook over to the scrawny boy and waits as he writes down another message. _**'I can read lips, if you speak slowly and clearly'**_ Astrid read the note and now things were becoming clear. Hiccup prided in his writing skills, many deaf people usually didn't write in perfect English because when signing sentences there would be certain words left out. Some people will sign in English ASL which is the exact translation, while most deaf people sign in natural American sign language and not using perfect English grammar to communicate with. As for Hiccup it was easy to write in perfect English because he had always excelled in his studies of English literature and grammar. "I see, well umm thanks. We should get going" She replied, trying to make sure it was slow enough for the boy as she handed him back his notebook.

Hiccup nods and leads the way to their homeroom; meanwhile Astrid's heart is pounding as she thinks about the word Hiccup had just taught her how to sign. Despite being used to people telling her how hot she was and having guys constantly hit on her, something about the way Hiccup had complimented her felt different. Although she would never admit it out loud she found the language really interesting to observe, and was even thrilled at learning something new today. The young singer new that being back home wasn't going to be easy, but she always had a feeling that it wouldn't be completely boring either.

**To Be Continued! **


	2. Chapter 2

**How to Live, Learn, and Love**

**First I just want thank all the kind reviews! I also hope that you continue to enjoy the story and please continue to review! **

**Chapter 2 **

It has been a long day for the famous young singer, dealing with screaming fans begging for pictures and autographs, while trying not to let the teachers become irritated with her or her band. Once again she couldn't understand what Gobber was thinking when he forced them to return home, she had been doing just fine with her online schooling, and it wasn't like Astrid had any desire to visit her father. By the time school ended her peers started to calm down and got used to the idea that she and her bandmates were going to be sticking around for the year. She was now making her way over to her locker, due to it only being the first day she only had a handful of homework assignments to worry about and didn't need to take home all of her new text books. Shortly after Astrid stood in front of her locker, she spotted her bandmates making their way over to her with Fishlegs in tow, but she noticed that Hiccup was nowhere to be found. She frowns, but doesn't dare ask about the scrawny boy as she opens her locker without even acknowledging anyone.

"Man I am so glad that this day is over" Snotlouts huffs. He folds his arms and leans his back against the lockers, his backpack sitting on the floor next to him.

"Yeah no kidding, I think I might go deaf now from all that chaos today" Tuffnut muttered irritably.

"Shouldn't you guys be used to screaming fans?" Fishlegs questioned.

"Sure we are, but we usually don't have to stick around too long because where always going from one place to the next. This time we were trapped without our manager or body guards around" Snotlout explained.

"At least you were able to relax during our classes thanks to the teachers threatening detention to any students that dared to make a fuss during our lessons" Fishlegs laughed.

"That was the only thing that saved us" Tuffnut replied.

"Stop being a baby, you love the attention" Ruffnut punches her brother.

"Owe, damn it woman" Tuffnut rubs his sore arm while his sister just grins.

Astrid ignored her friends as she closed her locker once she had what she needed, not looking obvious about it but she still wondered where their school guide could be. Frustrated she leans her back against Hiccup's locker without even realizing it, and folding her arms over her chest as she tosses her backpack to the floor.

"Looks like the princess is pissed off" Snotlout chuckles.

"When isn't she pissed off?" Ruffnut questions.

"Uh, like never" Tuffnut answers and the twins grin at each other like idiots.

"Hmm I wonder if Hiccup decided to stop by the library?" Fishlegs wondered as he finally closed his locker.

"The library, on the first day?" Snotlout questions.

Fishlegs nods. "Yeah Hiccup likes to get homework done at school because he works till like 9 during the weekdays" he explained.

"Deaf boy has a job?" Snotlout says surprised.

Fishlegs frowns slightly annoyed. "Lots of deaf people have jobs Snotlout" he explains.

"Where does he work?" Astrid asked. She surprises everyone by suddenly speaking up; she still had that foul look on her face that was meant as a warning sign. If Astrid was frustrated, you answered what she asked if she asked anything.

"At his dad's bar, Berk's Bar" Fishlegs answered.

"What! His dad owns Berk's Bar!?" Snotlout says completely shocked. "Dude we had our first real gig there, they didn't even care that we were only 13 since we were there just to play music" Snotlout explained.

Fishlegs nodded proudly. "Yup Stoick is Hiccup's dad, but they don't really get along very well" he said sadly.

"Man hard to believe those two are related" Snotlout shakes his head, still in awe of the new knowledge he just received.

"Maybe we can play there again!?" Tuffnut suggested.

"Dude that would be awesome! We haven't been there since our very first gig" Snotlout said excitedly, anxious to play anywhere at this point. "Can you get Hiccup to talk to his old man for us?" The drummer asks Fishlegs.

"Umm I don't know, like I said there not on the best of terms right now" Fishlegs said worriedly.

"Oh come on, that scrawny kid may actually be useful to us and you're worried about his daddy issues?"

Astrid glares dangerously at her drummer and punches in the elbow hard.

"Hey, what the hell was that for Astrid!?"

"You sad the D word idiot" Tuffnut explained.

"Yeah never say the D word around Astrid if you want to live" Ruffnut rolls her eyes.

Snotlout grumbles but does regret his words, he forgot that Astrid had some major father issues of her own and it was never wise to tease or bully about that kind of topic around her, even if he hadn't been talking her father specifically.

"Umm I'm confused?" Fishlegs replies.

Ruffnut rolls her eyes again in aggravation. "You said Hiccup and his dad don't get along right? Well Astrid has her own father issues and she doesn't like people talking about anything that has to do with fathers" Ruffnut explained.

"Oh, ok. Anyway I can try to talk to Hiccup, but no promises" Fishlegs.

"No need" Astrid speaks coldly as she lifts up her backpack over her shoulder and begins to make her way down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Snotlout shouts.

Astrid glances over her shoulder. "You want to have a gig at Berk's Bar don't you? I need to go to the library anyway so I'll talk to Hiccup" She explains, her tone void of any emotion as usual. The only time Astrid really showed any kind of emotion was when she was singing on stage, on stage she could be her true self, on stage she felt free. The young singer wasn't sure why she just lied, technically it wasn't a totally lie. Astrid did need to get something from the library for a research essay that was due in two weeks, but she just didn't necessarily have to go today. She remembered where to fine the library thanks to Hiccup's tour earlier. When she entered into the library she was impressed by the size, during the tour they hadn't bothered to look inside. The senior noticed that the library was completely empty as she made her way across the room while looking through the aisles of books as she tried to fine Hiccup. It didn't take her too long as she spotted the boy sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the shelf of books. The young singer gracefully makes her way over to the boy that was lost in another world; she noticed his look of concentration as he sketched away. Looking over his shoulder while he still hadn't even noticed her presence she was amazed with his artistic skills. The details he put into everything made the image almost come to life. She noticed that he was drawing a dragon, it was large with jet black scales covering his whole body, his sides had small light patches; she noticed that this dragon possessed three sets of wings, one main pair, and one smaller pair near the base of his tail. She watched as the boy started to color in the eyes with a bright green colored pencil. Deciding to let her presence be known she takes a seat next to the young artist. Startled he jumps slightly and drops the colored pencil. Astrid gives him a small grin. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" She speaks slowly.

Hiccup gives the singer a small smile and places his sketchbook down as he unzips his backpack to pull out his notebook. He scribbles something down and hands it over to the other teenager. _**No big, I scare easily unfortunately. What are you doing here? **_

Astrid envied the boy's penmanship; her writing skills were more like chicken scratch. Whenever ideas for a new song came to her she would always try to get it down on paper fast enough so that she wouldn't forget them. She sighs as she decides that it would be easier to write down her request then speak back slowly, best to get out quickly. _**Fishlegs told me you would be in here; he also said that your dad owns Berk's Bar? **_She hands him the notebook back and just seconds later she could see the frown that he now wore on his face. Part of her felt guilty for asking, though she would never admit it to herself out loud. Still she knew what it was like to not get along with your father; she knew that better than most folks ever would. As he is writing she could almost see a hint of aggravation.

_**Yes he owns it, why do you ask? **_

Astrid decides to think carefully on how to ask, but then realizes it's better to just come out and say it. _**Well, my band and I had our first gig there before we became big and famous and we were sort of hoping that your father might let us play there again. It would mean a lot to us. **_The singer felt as if she had to reread her words a couple of times to make certain that she didn't sound like some brat demanding he help her band. Normally she didn't care how cold hearted she seemed to act towards most folks, but when it came to father issues Astrid just couldn't bring out the coldness that was inside her. The only time she was pleasant with people was when she was around her fans, but behind closed doors she shut herself away from the world. She didn't allow her emotions to be shown very often and she never talked about her past, in fact Gobber was the only person that knew most of it. Satisfied with her request she hands the notebook and pen back over to Hiccup.

Hiccup sighs he should have known that someone as beautiful as Astrid didn't come here just to hang out with him. In fact most people that ever did talk to Hiccup just wanted to get close to his father. A senior in high school and not a single girl has ever shown any kind of interest in him, and why would they? He was the only deaf boy in this whole damn town, it didn't help that Berk was insanely small. Nobody would want to be with the deaf boy of Berk. Eventually he writes back and hands the notebook over to Astrid, the sooner he helped her get what she wanted, the sooner he would be left alone and could continue to sketch. _**I'll ask my dad but I can't promise anything. I'm sure he'll love to have you though, you would be able to bring more customers in and that always makes him happy. **_The boy hands it over to Astrid and although she is happy with the reply she can't help but feel guilty for asking, and Astrid Hofferson never felt guilty about anything she did. She watched as Hiccup went back to his drawing and seemed to try to get lost in his own little world.

"Hiccup" she taps his shoulder. He looks over at her with an empty stare, something about that look made Astrid feel uncomfortable, she found herself wanting him to smile again, even if it was a small smile. She writes another note to him and hands it over. _**Will you come see us if your dad lets us play there? I know you won't be able to hear anything, but maybe afterwards we could all hang out somewhere, you can even bring FIshlegs along. **_

Hiccup blinks completely caught off guard, did someone just ask him to hang out with them? Nobody ever asked Hiccup to tag along, well nobody besides Fishlegs. _**Really, you really want me to tag along?**_ Astrid frowns, she didn't like how surprised he seemed over the invitation. Surely he had friends to spend time with, he did have Fishlegs after all. Eventually the singer gives Hiccup a rare smile that wasn't fake for the fans, it was small but Hiccup thought it was the most beautiful smile in the world. "It'll be fun" She says slow enough for him to read her lips. Hiccup smiles back and nods. He had never been asked to hang out with a group before, he hoped that the rest of the band wouldn't mind Astrid for inviting him along.

_**I'll ask him tonight. **_He replies in the notebook after the singer handed it back to him. She grins and nods as she finally stands back up, but not before writing down her number in the notebook. "My cell number, text me whenever. But don't give that number out to anyone. If you do, I'll punch you" She warns. Once again the boy is in awe as he stares at her number and memorizes it, he's never gotten a girl's phone number before! He looks back at her nods with a bright smile on his face. Astrid narrows her eyes and turns away so that the scrawny kid couldn't see the damn blush creeping up her cheeks. She quickly regained control of herself so that she could look at him with her usual coldness. "So I'll see you around?" she questions. He shakes his head but then starts to flip through his sketchbook, he tares a piece of paper out and hands it over to the singer. The rock star is stunned by the drawing he just handed to her, it was the band name with her standing next to the letters with her arms were folded over her chest, looking like the badass that she knew she could be. She couldn't get over the details he put into the sketch, although she was made to look like a cartoon character it was still really well done. "This is amazing" She says in awe, unable to keep her cold uninterested look up any longer. Hiccup grins proudly that the singer seemed to really like the drawing, he had been doodling with it all morning during his classes. "Can I, can I keep this?" she asks unsure of herself. Hiccup nods in response. "Thanks, anyway see you later" She finally walks away as her eyes were completely focused on her new prize. When she eventually makes it out to the parking lot, she sees her crew waiting at the limo for her. She shoves the paper carefully into her backpack and makes her way over.

"So what did he say?" Snotlout questions.

"He said he'll ask his dad for us tonight" She answered as she stepped into the limo.

"Oh man this is great!" Snotlout cheers as he crawls in after her.

"Yea maybe Hiccup can sneak us some drinks" Tuffnut suggested.

Astrid snorts as the twins made themselves comfortable. "Good luck with that one, idiot" she mumbles.

"Ah come on Astrid I bet if you asked him he do anything for you" Ruffnut begs.

"Yeah ask any boy in the world to jump off a bridge and they would ask you how high of a bridge" Tuffnut mocks.

Astrid glares dangerously at her bandmates before turning to face out the window as their driver finally started to leave the school parking lot.

Meanwhile back in the library Hiccup couldn't believe how great things turned out today, not only did he meet the most beautiful girl in the world, but he was able to make her smile and even received her phone number! He placed his new prize safely in the back pocket of his jeans, the boy was about to continue drawing would he suddenly had his sketchbook snatched away from him. He looks up in horror to see his daily tormenters, Heather, and Eret. They were both in the same grade as Hiccup and have tormented him sense middle school. He used to have a huge crush on Heather, and at first she had been very sweet to him, but that all change when she became the cheerleading captain in the 8th grade and has kept her title ever since. She started dating Eret in their freshmen year when he became the captain of the school's football team. Heather was a beauty of fire that could entrance almost any guy under her seductive spell, her hair was as black as a raven, and her dark eyes seemed to lure you into her trap with ease if you weren't careful. Eret easily over towered Hiccup's small form with his muscular body showing off his strength, he also had dark hair and dark eyes, and he always mocked Hiccup with his sneering smile.

"If it isn't the deaf boy of Berk" Eret sneers cruelly.

Hiccup glares at the bigger student with annoyance as he stands up. Although Hiccup knew that he didn't stand a chance in hell against these two, he knew he couldn't let them have the only thing that made him happy.

"Let me see what we got here" Heather takes the sketch book from Eret and rolls her eyes. "Dragons, really? Do you always have that head of yours lost in the clouds?" she taunts.

Although Hiccup wasn't able to catch everything that they were saying, he knew that she was mocking his drawings and that irritated him, he always put his heart and soul into his work, why couldn't they just leave him alone? He had never done anything to them, all he wanted was to be left alone.

"There not even that good" Eret teases as he rips Hiccup's latest sketch into shreds right in front of him. Hiccup yells out in anger and suddenly launches at the football player. However; Eret was much too quick and punches Hiccup hard in the stomach, easily causing his scrawny form to fall to his knees in pain. Hiccup knew that yelling at this time would be pointless, the stupid librarian had left the room hours ago probably making out with the principle when she should be here, and not to mention that he had been the only one here after classes were over since most students didn't really have a need to be here on just the first day. Despite knowing this, when he saw his latest sketch just being ripped to shreds like that he couldn't stop the anger that was of building inside him, he had worked hard for that sketch and Eret just destroyed it like it was nothing!

Heather laughs as she tosses the sketch book back at Hiccup's face hard. "Oh look Eret you've gone and upset the deaf boy"

"Who cares, the idiot needs to remember where his place lies in Berk" Eret replies. He kneels down to Hiccup's level just so that he could lift him up against the shelf of books by the collar of his t-shirt. "To the townspeople of Berk he'll always be known as nothing more than the dumb deaf kid" Eret says coldly as he narrows his eyes at the defeated boy.

Hiccup wasn't sure how much time passed when his bullies finally left him lying on the floor beaten. He wanted to cry but had stop shedding tears a long time ago, how could you even cry when you felt completely numb inside? His body ached all over and the young artist knew that it was going to be hell at work tonight. Struggling at first he is eventually able to lift himself off the cold wooden floor and leans himself against the book shelf. He knew that his ribs were probably sore from all the stomach the football player had given him, but he couldn't let his father know. If his father knew he would just go one about how he needs to learn to fight back and stand up for himself, he would nothing to help him. Hiccup wished more than anything to be able to fight back, but he just wasn't a fighter, he didn't want to cause people pain when he knew what it was like to be in pain so well. Hiccup pulls his cell phone out of his backpack to see that it was almost 4 and knew that he needed to head home and get ready for work. Slowly and carefully he somehow manages to get himself up but not without his ribs screaming at him for moving so much. Ignoring the pain he makes his way out to the parking lot and carefully hops into his old red pick-up truck. Sometimes Hiccup wondered why fate had been so cruel as to take his hearing away and make him such an easy target for the town of Berk to torment and mock at, but deep down the teenager knew he just had to be strong. Gripping the steering wheel tightly out of anger flashes of his childhood taunted him, all Hiccup ever wanted was to be accepted by the people of Berk, by the people who were supposed to be his family, but he knew that it would never happen, because he was not going to change. And why the hell should he change for anyone just because he was different? Hiccup never truly hated that he was deaf, he could deal with the silence; he just hated the loneliness that came along with it. Letting out a tired sigh and loosening his grip on the steering Hiccup finally starts up the old engine as he carefully places his seatbelt out and pulls out of the school parking lot.

Almost 15 minutes later Hiccup finally makes it home with plenty of time to get ready, the bar was literally only a ten minute drive so thankfully he didn't have to rush himself. Although his home wasn't much, the young artist didn't mine. His father usually spent his earning on hunting trips whenever he could get away from the bar so Stoick never cared to have a fancy mansion like most people with money tend to have. It was a one story brick home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a garage large enough for two vehicles. Hiccup parks his truck inside the garage and slowly makes his way out. When he walks into his home he instantly sees his husky canine companion making his way over excitedly. Despite his the horrible ending to an almost perfect day the teenager can't help but smile. He kneels down just as Toothless finally makes it over to him barking excitedly and wagging his tail, it doesn't take him long to start licking Hiccup's face. Hiccup laughs and in that moment he is able to forget the darkness in his world. "Hey bud" He mumbles with a small smile. Only in front of Toothless did Hiccup ever feel comfortable enough to speak. He hated talking in front of hearing people because to a normal person they would hear a monotone voice that has a droning nature and can really bother most people after a while. Around Toothless though Hiccup could be himself without being judged, he didn't have to be ashamed of how he sounded, he didn't have to worry about saying the wrong thing or being teased at. For Hiccup, Toothless really was his best friend. Hiccup eventually stands back up and points to Toothless, then signs the word Hungry to his canine companion. Toothless immediately starts barking happily and makes his way over to the pantry where he knew the dog food was. Hiccup just shakes his head and chuckles as he makes his way over. Once Toothless is busy eating he heads over to his room in order to change out of his school clothes.

Although his room isn't very large the young artist didn't need much space. Hiccup carefully throws his backpack to the floor next to his desk that allowed him to look out the window whenever he was sketching or working on his studies. He didn't have a television in his room like most kids his age did, but that was because he hardly watched television anyway. As Hiccup is pulling out his work jeans, dark sneakers, and Berk's Bar dark blue shirt his trusty canine came walking into his room just as he had finished dressing himself. Although most of the workers had to wear their Viking uniforms, Hiccup had simply refused. Instead he decided to design his own t-shirt and have it delivered to him. On the front of the blue collared shirt was the bar's name, while on the back had the design of a Viking character from one of his sketches, it was made to look like his father in cartoon form. His father actually thought it was clever, but was still annoyed that Hiccup didn't want to join in on the uniform fun like the rest of his father's employees did. Normally Hiccup would take Toothless for a walk before work but his sore body screamed at him for thinking such thoughts. He sighs and leads his husky to the backyard, which thankfully was large enough for his dog to run around in and was completely fenced so that he couldn't escape, not that he would even try to run away. He allowed Toothless to play for a bit before finally bringing him back in and saying goodbye, it was time to get to work.

When Hiccup arrived to the bar he could tell that the loud music was booming even without being able to hear just by seeing the amount of people dancing out on the open dance floor. Being almost 5pm, Hiccup wasn't surprised to see that the place was already packed, even on a Monday. What Hiccup needed to do was to find his father before he clocked in. When he finally did find him he wasn't surprised to his father already drinking with his buddies, along with a bunch of young ladies that were probably half his age, it disgusted Hiccup that someone like him could be so highly respected by the people of Berk. All his father did all night was drink and party till closing hours, only during the day if he wasn't hung over did he ever actually work anymore. The young artist knew that if their mother had still been around then he wouldn't be like this, there was a time where Stoick would never drink while he was on the job, but sadly those days ended a long time ago. Hiccup taps his father on the shoulder and hands him his notebook with the message already written in it. _**Hey dad, umm I met the band that Gobber introduced me to today and they were wondering if they could play here one night. They had their first gig here before they became really famous and thought it would be fun to play here again. They would probably attract a lot of customers for you. **_

Thankfully his father looked like he was in a good mood and it didn't take him long to reply. _**I already had a long chat with Gobber about that, they'll be playing here next Saturday night. Now go hurry and get to work; there is a pile of dishes already waiting for you. **_

Hiccup beams gratefully and quickly leaves his drunken dad in peace; he couldn't wait to tell Astrid that he got her band the gig. Maybe the rest of the band members will start like him after this, maybe he would even get to call them friends if he played his cards right. When he made it to the back of the kitchen he decides to text Astrid and let her know she got the gig. It only took him a few seconds to send the message. He stashes his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and begins to start working. Just a couple of minutes later and he felt his phone vibrating, drying his hands with a wash towel he reads the message Astrid had sent him. _**That's great! Thanks Hiccup, I'll see you at school tomorrow. **_

Hiccup's smile couldn't get any bigger as he read the simple message. His little fingers quickly replied back. _**No problem, I'm glad I could help. I'll see you tomorrow; don't let Snotlout and the twins drive you too crazy. **_

Just before he could even put his phone back away it vibrates again. _**Yea, try telling them that! **_

Hiccup grins, he wanted to keep on talking to the beautiful singer but he also knew that he needed to get to work before his father saw him slacking off. For once in his life he actually couldn't wait for school. It was amazing, but those short simple little messages from Astrid had made him forget all about his recent bully attacks.

**To Be Continued **


	3. Chapter 3

**How to Live, Learn, and Love**

**Hey everyone I just want to thank you all so much for the inspiring reviews, I'm so happy to see you all enjoying the story. I also want to apologize for this long update; I was dealing with some family stuff and some writers block unfortunately. But I'm back and ready to write! **

**Chapter 3**

Hiccup couldn't stop the tears; he felt pathetic as his husky canine tried to comfort him. He was lying on the floor with the wolf size like dog snuggling closely to his owner, while whimpering softly at having to see Hiccup in pain. Although the young deaf boy was used to nights like this, this particular beating had been really bad. His father had been insanely drunk by the time they got home from work and Hiccup tried to get away, he called for Toothless but his father had shut him out in the backyard. Even though Hiccup couldn't hear his furry friend, he could see through the glass slide door that his best friend was barking like a mad dog and scratching at the glass door trying to get inside to help him. Hiccup tried to get his mind off the pain, normally he would start to think about the new kinds of dragons that he wanted to draw, but tonight he couldn't get a certain singer off his mind. For the first time in years Hiccup actually wished that he wasn't deaf, just so that he could listen to her voice. Judging by her beauty and of course her popularity, Hiccup had no doubt that she had a stunning voice.

If there was one thing the young teenager was thankful for was that his father had let Toothless back inside the house. He always allowed the canine back in after the beatings, but never before them. Hiccup had to train Toothless not to attack his father when the beatings were done because he knew his father would send Toothless away if the dog tried to get revenge for him. Toothless was the only real comfort that Hiccup was able to get in his silent lonely world. Sure he had Fishlegs, but Fishlegs doesn't know how bad his home life is, he's never told anyone. Ever since his mother died when he was about eight his father's drinking became worse. His mother had never allowed his father to drink at the bar because she knew that responsible bar owners did not drink, but after her death he just didn't care anymore. Although Hiccup's relationship with his parents had always be strain due to him being deaf, there were plenty of times that he found himself missing his mother. He knew that deep down she felt horrible for causing him to go deaf, she had always been kind to Hiccup when it was just the two of them. She played with him when she wasn't working; she had even been the one to start teaching him sign language when the doctor had warned his parents that he would eventually go deaf. After her death though he had to continue to teach the language to himself; his father simply refused to take the time to study with him. Hiccup knew that his parents were having trouble getting along when Valka had started to teach him sign language. She used to beg his father to learn the language, but his father had always been stubborn and didn't like the idea of studying.

While thinking about his mother Hiccup tries to move his body, he groans in pain which makes Toothless whimper again for his owner. Eventually he is able to sit himself up with the help of Toothless; but his body goes stiff as he sees his father walking back over to him. Toothless lets out a warning growl and bares he's fangs at Stoick. Hiccup notices that he has one of the notebooks he used to communicate with to Stoick and he throws it at the boy carelessly. Somehow Hiccup manages to catch the notebook in his arms and opens it to read what the older Haddock had to say. _**Remember, you don't tell anybody about this. If you do I'll have your friend put to sleep. **_Hiccup looks at his father with stubborn green eyes as he places a comforting hand on the still growling dog's head. The hand calms his canine friend down and he lowers his head onto Hiccup's lap, but he keeps his eyes on the larger man.

Although there was no reply from his son, Stoick knew by that look the boy understood his warning. He takes another sip of his drink out of the beer bottle in his hand and then the bar owner finally makes his way into the living room. Hiccup wanted nothing more than to scream at his father, he wanted to let Toothless attack him viciously, he wanted his father to understand his pain, but he just couldn't. He couldn't allow his anger and frustration to cloud his judgment and put Toothless in danger. If he were to lose Toothless and had to go on living with his father's abusive behavior without his canine friend, Hiccup knew he wouldn't be able to survive for very long.

The next day Hiccup's body ached all over. As he pulled into the school's parking lot; all the boy wanted to do was sleep, he wanted to be locked up in his room drawing with Toothless resting beside him. Leaving his canine friend behind this morning had been hard on Hiccup. Toothless had tried to keep him from leaving, whether by blocking the doorway, or tugging at his clothes, the wolf like dog could see the pain it was for his owner to have to move around. Eventually Hiccup had to distract Toothless by getting him a treat.

When Hiccup shut his engine off the deaf boy noticed that the Vikings and Fishlegs were already here hanging out by the stairs chatting away. He also noticed that the parking lot was still plenty empty and probably wouldn't start filling up more for another ten or fifteen minutes. He sighs and rubs his tired eyes, it was time to start the day, he hoped that spending time with Astrid and the gang may help lift his spirits a little. Just for once he didn't want to be alone anymore. He grabs his backpack carefully and lifts it onto his shoulder, as he hops out of the old truck he can't help but flinch from the pain. Once locked up, he slowly makes his way over to the gang; thankfully he didn't have to park far from them.

Fishlegs is the first one to notice Hiccup making his way over to the group. The large boy beams happily at seeing his close friend. Astrid had been listening to her bandmates talk about random subjects when she saw the large boy looking over at something; it was then when she spotted Hiccup making his way over to them. When he made it to the stairs he tossed his backpack down and leaned against the wall of the stone staircase. She watched carefully as Fishlegs started to sign to the deaf boy.

She saw the little finger edge of his left hand rest in the crook of his right elbow. The left arm was being held horizontally. The open right hand had the fingers together pointing up, with his palm facing his body, Astrid watched as he slowly rises it to an almost upright angle.

She saw the deaf boy nod back to his friend while doing the same sign motion, her curiosity got the best of her as she spoke for the first time since arriving about five minutes ago with her band. "What was that sign?" She questions as she looks over at Fishlegs.

Fishlegs beams, he loved answering questions about sign language. "That was the sign for Morning" He answers. He then went back to chatting with the twins and Snotlout about different kinds of music and movies.

Astrid turns her attention back over to the silent boy, she could tell by his body language that he was tired, but something else felt wrong. He had his arms folded over his chest, one leg leaning against the wall, and his head held down with his eyes closed. Deciding that listening to her idiotic friends was becoming boring she makes her way over to the boy who wasn't even aware that she was approaching him. She gives him her signature punch which causes him to stand on both feet and grumble in pain as he rubs his sore arm. He looks over at her confused with slightly frustrated eyes.

"That was for not say _**Morning **_to me" She explains as she uses the new sign she had just observed. He was able to read everything she said, it was amazing at how slow and clear she took the time to speak to him.

Hiccup blinks slightly surprised, sure he had been excited to see Astrid and her friends again today, but he still wasn't sure if he could consider them his friends or not. He wasn't sure how much they would want him around, or how quickly they would get tired of having to communicate with him differently from regular hearing people. She gives him a small devil like grin that seemed to make her glow with confidence. There was something about that smirk, he just couldn't stop himself from giving her a small smile; despite all the crap he had been through recently it only took being with Astrid for just a few seconds to help him forget it all.

Hiccup manages to pull out his notebook; he wanted to learn more about this singer so he starts to ask questions. He hands the notebook over to her and notices the concreted look on her face; it was as if she had to be careful about her answer. "I'm from here originally" She mouths to him. Her expression was cold and distant to Hiccup, he already missed that playful smirk she had just moments ago. When she hands the notebook back to him he writes another question and just holds it up for her to read. She sighs as she leans back against the stone staircase wall with the boy, she folds her arms over her chest and gives him her full attention; she could see the curiosity in those forest green eyes. _**Was it your music that made you move? **_If it was one thing Astrid hated, it was talking about her past, a past she never wanted to go back to. "Most of it yeah, but there were some personally family problems that I just had to get away from" she explained.

Hiccup looked down, how do you respond to that kind of comment? He knew better than most folks in this town, what it was like to want to get away from your family. He wanted to tell Astrid that he understood, but he didn't want to risk putting Toothless in danger and slipping out about how abusive his dad can get when he drinks, which was most nights unfortunately. Thankfully the beatings weren't always current though, sometimes he would go weeks without one, but when he did get them, they left him feeling weak and broken, both on the inside and out. Usually during the heavy nights that his father was drinking, he would just pass out and not even have the energy to beat him; those were the nights Hiccup had always been grateful for. His father often walked home from work since it wasn't really that far, maybe five minutes at best on foot. Hiccup only drove his truck to work when he was coming to work from school, he would sometimes even bring his work clothes to school with him if he didn't forget them. It was rare that he drove his truck from home to work, not unheard of, but rare.

"Don't look so pathetic it's not that bad really, I just don't like being told what to do. I've always been like that, my folks used to be extremely strict and I hated it" Astrid explained after the long silence. Once again it amazed Hiccup that he was able to catch every word, she spoke so slow and clear to him that is was impossible to miss anything. She didn't seem impatient about it either, maybe uncomfortable about the topic, but not at having to talk slower than most folks would have to. Her words though felt as if she was leaving something out, something she obviously didn't want to talk to him about, but that was fine, he knew how sore certain subjects could be and what it was like to not want to be open about your family life. He starts to write down something else in order to get her in a better mood. _**You look really pretty today. **_When hiccup showed her the note, the lead singer was stunned by the sudden change in subject. Was it because he could see how much she really didn't want to talk about her family life? Most of the time she had to threaten a beating to someone if they kept pushing her about her personal life. She watched as he pointed to her and then showed her the sign for pretty again.

How could Hiccup not notice how beautiful Astrid looked, he believed that someone should be telling her this every day. She still had the same hairstyle from yesterday; her golden blonde hair reminded him of the sun, and those sea blue eyes he could easily see himself getting lost in for hours. She had on red skinny jeans, a black t-shirt with the words Viking Warrior in the middle, and red flat sneakers. As for Hiccup he typically wore jeans, a plain t-shirt, and sneakers, he was never one to care about fashion, he just liked to be comfortable, but he figured that Astrid could look good in just about anything.

Astrid stubbornly fought back the blush that tried to sneak up across her cheeks, she wouldn't allow it! "You showed me that word yesterday" she mumbles turning her head away. Hiccup blinks and tilts his head, he hadn't been able to understand her mumbling, and she suddenly looked irritated somehow, had he said something wrong?

"Hey Astrid, you two are looking pretty cozy over there" Snotlout snickers.

Astrid glares at her drummer and wishes that the idiot had ruin the moment, wait what moment? There was no moment, Hiccup was just being Hiccup; he was just being nice and distracting her from unwanted subjects. Stupid Snotlout, she growls and unfolds her arms as she rolls her right hand into a tight fist. "You better watch it Snotlout, or I'll leak out on twitter how everyone's favorite drummer is still afraid of the dark" She grins wickedly. Being as famous as the Vikings were the band usually kept their fans up to date about their lives; just as any other famous celebrities did using the internet. They all had their own twitter, facebook, and the band myspace page as well. Astrid didn't usually post much unless it was about a new song coming out, or a new music video. Snotlout and the twins were always on the internet posting stuff to their fans about the most random things and the fans just ate it up. Snotlout would brag about how many lady friends he had on his page, he was such a player and it always annoyed the hell out of Astrid.

"That's not fair Astrid! The dark can be scary!" He wines defensively while the twins are snickering beside him.

"Better be careful Snotlout" Tuffnut warns.

"Yeah the boogieman is going to get you" Ruffnut warns.

"Shut up you idiots! At least I didn't wet the bed until I was 8!" He points at the twins.

"It was Tuffnut who did, not me!" Ruffnut yells.

"No way it was totally you" Tuffnut argues.

Ruffnut smacks her brother, the brother smacks back and the two start rolling down onto the ground.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Fishlegs asks concerned.

"Nah there always like that, they'll tire themselves out in a few seconds and forget why they were even fighting" Astrid explains, her arms once again folded over her chest. Astrid turned to the confused Hiccup and wrote down why the twins had started arguing and even he couldn't stop the light chuckle escaping from him.

"I'm hurt, I'm hurt, I am very much hurt!" Tuffnut wines as he tries to run away from his sister.

At this time the parking lot started to fill up more with other students arriving. A few fans came up and begged for pictures and autographs, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first day had been for the band.

Tuffnut had still been trying to run away from his sister around the small group of people when someone suddenly caught Ruffnut's attention.

"Oh my" She has a dreamy look on her face, like some love struck puppy.

Astrid had just finished writing out an autograph when she turned to see Ruffnut. She glances at Hiccup and the two give each other a matching confused look as they look to see who Ruffnut was looking at. Hiccup instantly went stiff, it just had to be him, he just had to come and ruin his good mood. The muscular boy casually made his way over towards the group with his girlfriend in tow.

"Well if isn't mister big shot, think you're so popular now just because some rock band wants to hang out with you?" He questions Hiccup.

Not having heard the rude comment in her dreamy state Ruffnut came over and started poking at his muscular arms. "Me likely" She says in her zombie state.

"Hey, stop that!" Her dreamy man orders.

"Who is this Greek God?" Ruffnut questions Fishlegs.

The boy huffs and folds his arms over his chest. "I'll forgive you since you folks are new for not knowing who I am. But I'm Eret, son of Eret and the captain of Berk High's football team" He says proudly.

"He's perfect!" Ruffnut ditches Fishlegs and dashes back over to him, she wraps her arms around his neck happily. Eret desperately tries to get away from the surprisingly strong guitar player.

"And I'm the head cheerleader Heather, his girlfriend" Heather glares dangerously at Ruffnut. When Ruffnut refuses to let go, Heather marches over to the light blonde haired girl and pulls at her hair.

"Owe, owe, owe, you crazy witch!" She growls turning to face the dark haired girl. Heather just huffs and walks back over to stand beside her man. Astrid was glaring dangerously at the muscular teenager as she continued to stand next to Hiccup leaning against the staircase.

"Hey Hiccup old friend" Eret smirks as he places his arm around over his shoulders like some kind of casual friend. "Any chances of you getting me and my girl into your dad's bar?" He asks.

"Eret you idiot, I told you to hand him the note" Heather fishes out a note from her pocket and hands it over to her boyfriend.

"Oh yeah, deaf boy can't hear" He snickers and hands Hiccup the note while taking a step back.

_**Get us in the bar or will make your life a living hell. **_

"What the hell is this!?" Astrid practically growls. She snatches the note before Hiccup could even try to respond to the threat. "You know Hiccup can't get you in, your underage!" She narrowed her eyes at the couple. Something about these two made her blood boil inside; she didn't like it, or them!

"Yeah well we heard that you guys were able to get a gig there and you're underage!" Eret argued.

"How did you even find out about that? We just got the gig yesterday?" Astrid frowned. At the corner of her eye she noticed Snotlout trying to sneak away behind the twins, she grabs him by the collar of his shirt before he can get far. "Snotlout what did you do?" She questioned him with her dark tone.

"What!? So I might have announced it on twitter that we got the gig?" He explained. He noticed Astrid becoming more frustrated which irritated him as well. "Astrid where rock stars that just got a gig, it's my job to let the fans know when and where will be playing" he added defensively, while looking like a complete idiot in the singer's eyes.

"Idiot! We don't even know if Hiccup's father will let underage fans in yet or any other details about the gig besides the date, you know we aren't supposed to post shows until we know all the details!" She released her grip on her drummer so that she could punch him in the arm.

"Owe! That's my best drumming arm!" He cried as he rubbed his now very sore arm.

Astrid ignored him as she folded her arms with her foul mood growing every second because of these two idiots ruining her morning, and her idiot drummer for being stupid. She made her way back to the confused deaf boy and noticed he had a blank look as he was looking around at everyone, she then realized that he must be extremely lost with what was going on.

"Look all I'm saying is that if you rock star wannabees can get into the most popular bar in Berk, then it's only fair that we should be able to get in also" Eret replied with a huff.

His words really got Astrid fired up, nobody talk down about her band in front of her like that. Sure she knew that as a musician there were going to people that didn't care for her music, but to call them wannabees really pissed the young singer off, this boy needed to be taught a lesson and learn quickly who he was talking to. She had millions of fans all over the world that would jump his sorry ass for saying such things to her face, but she didn't need her fans to defend her, she could defend her music, her band, and her career just fine on her own.

"Oh boy you shouldn't have said that" Snotlout warned.

"Yeah you just dug up your own grave dude" Tuffnut pointed with his idiotic grin.

"Awe man and he was so perfect to!" Ruffnut pouted.

"Don't worry my guitar princess I'll always be here for you" Fishlegs said with his dreamy dazed. Ruffnut rolled her eyes as she made a gagging sound, Tuffnut just snickers beside his sister.

Astrid unfolded her arms and tightens her right hand into a fist that was ready to strike the cocky jock. Just as she was about to swing her arm at the larger teenager Hiccup had grabbed her arm gently, but strong enough to stop her in her tracks. She growls thinking that one of her bandmates were trying to stop her but she glances beside her to see that it was Hiccup.

"Hiccup what are you doing?" She asked frustrated, but still slow enough for him to understand.

He shakes his head and tightens his hand onto her arm; Hiccup didn't want Astrid to get hurt. Although he knew that she was strong and wasn't sure exactly what the gang had been arguing about, he knew just exactly how strong Eret was and he wasn't against striking a girl. Hiccup maybe pathetic when it comes to fights, but he would do anything to keep Astrid out of one, especially if it the argument was over him. He wasn't worth her getting into any unnecessary fights.

Before Hiccup could try to explain anything to Astrid the bell rings loudly and students started to make their way around the small group and into the school.

Eret glares and steps closer to Hiccup and Astrid. "Consider yourself lucky deaf boy, but don't think your rock star babe will always be there to protect you" He sneered hatefully.

"By the way your voice totally sounds autotune" Heather taunted with a smirk before walking off.

"That's it! Your dead bitch!" Astrid was about to jump the girl but Fishlegs quickly lifted her up as she kicked and squirm to get at the girl. Heather just giggled as she followed her boyfriend inside. "Damn it Fishlegs put me down!" Astrid demanded.

"I'm sorry Astrid, but you need to be careful with those two" Fishlegs explained as she placed the small girl back onto her feet.

Astrid huffed in irritation and lifted up her backpack over her shoulder; Hiccup could see the anger in her eyes and wondered if he had already ruined his chances of possibly being friends with the young star. He watched as Fishlegs followed Snotlout and the twins inside then looks down at the note that he had gotten back from Astrid after she had tossed it to the ground out of anger before nearly striking the foolish jock. How long was Hiccup going to be tormented over the fact that he simply couldn't hear like the rest of Berk could? How long would he feel rejected from everyone over something he had no control of? How long would he feel so alone? It wasn't as if he was ashamed of being deaf, but the people of Berk wanted him to be ashamed and there were times where they made it hard not to be. Before he could even try to think of possible answers he suddenly felt the note being snatched away from him and watched as the young singer tossed it away with an easy shot to a nearby trash can.

"Are you coming Hiccup?" She questions the boy as he looks at her confused by her actions. She rolls her eyes and grabs hold of his wrist to pull him inside. "Let's go, where going to be late" She added. He blinks still confused but quickly grabs his backpack as Astrid drags him inside. He could feel his heart pounding, did this mean that she wasn't mad at him for stopping the fight; did he still have a chance to be friends with her?

During class Hiccup couldn't get his mind off the singer, he suddenly had an idea for his comic book series back home that she somehow stirred out of his brain and onto paper. He figured that his main character should naturally have a strong companion, one that could help him train the varies types of dragons he created in his world. This person would be strong but smart; she would also be very pretty but not one to want to have as an enemy. Not only did he doodle with this character but he started to create others as well. Now normally Hiccup was a good student and paid attention during his lessons, but he just couldn't stop drawing. Once an idea popped into his head he had to get it on paper before the details disappeared from his mind.

As the day went on Hiccup's body started to move around better without too much trouble. The only other classes besides lunch and first period that Hiccup shared with Astrid was P.E. Oh how Hiccup hated P.E! It was always before lunch, and he often wished he could just skip it, but he didn't want to ruin his perfect attendance record, he needed every good mark he could get in order to get out of this town. Thankfully for Hiccup all he had to do was try, he didn't have to be the best, if the coach saw that a student was trying then it was pretty easy to pass the course, even if you weren't very athletic like Hiccup. The first day had been easy, they didn't even have to change into their gym clothes as the coach just explained about all the different activities they would be doing during their senior year, it was pretty much the same basic stuff he's already done, but he still dreaded the idea. Hiccup was sitting next to Astrid both dressed in their gym clothes which were green shorts, and a white t-shirt with the school name on it. They sat on the gym floor with the rest of the students as they listened to their coach. The young deaf boy eyed his lips carefully and watched as his teacher pointed out to the ball they would be using. Even without being able to hear Hiccup knew just by the red ball that his coach was holding meant that they would be playing dodge ball, he hated dodge ball!

"All right who wants to be captain?" The coach finally asks after explaining the rules. Even though the coach knew his students knew the game it was still required that he explained them to the class. Hands shot up fast except for Hiccup and Astrid, she thought dodge ball was stupid and a waste of time, she would rather be writing some new lyrics, or practicing with her band back at Gobber's place.

"Ok Eret and Dagur get up here and pick your teams. Eret since you're the oldest you can pick first"

Hiccup cringed he knew he would be picked last, he was always last, but he would rather not be on either team at all and just fail the stupid course. Eret could be bad, but Dagur was way worse, he was always bulling Hiccup when there weren't any teachers nearby. It was even more brutal when Eret and Dagur were bullying him together. Dagur was Alvin's son who was very good friends with his father. Alvin was often hanging out at the bar drinking with Stoick, but Hiccup never trusted Alvin and he hated his son. Hiccup knew that Alvin had always wanted Stoick's bar, he was always encouraging his father to drink, probably in hopes that he would do something stupid, but Stoick the vast could hold his liquor and only acted out when he got home to take out his rage and anger out on Hiccup. At the bar even when drunk he was always seen as a great bar owner, the people absolutely loved him and Alvin hated it. Alvin owned a pretty popular restaurant in town, but he wanted the bar as well, something Hiccup knew he would never be able to gain unless Stoick decided to sell the bar.

"Let's see for my first choice I pick, the hot rock star!" Eret grins.

"Awe I wanted the hot babe Eret, you've already got Heather as your girl" Dagur wined. The students began to whisper to one another as Astrid rolled her eyes before finally standing up. She gracefully made her way over to the idiot jock with her arms folded over her chest and her green eyes narrowing at him as she made her way to stand beside him. Astrid wanted nothing more than to punch these two idiots, she could tell that they were making Hiccup uncomfortable even if the boy didn't say anything. The young star was still furious with Eret for threatening her new friend; wait could she really say that she and Hiccup were friends? Sure he helped guide her and the band around the school yesterday but she had no doubt that Gobber had most likely begged for the boy's help. But he did draw her that beautiful picture she still had safely put away in her room, but he could have just been being nice, still he did help her get that gig even though he had to ask his father, she imagined that couldn't have been easy for him if he really wasn't on the best of terms with him like Fishlegs had told her the other day. Despite the boy's scrawny form he wasn't horrible to look at, he was very kind and he didn't act like some crazy fan, he treated her like a normal person, and that was something that Astrid could definitely get use to.

She watched as students were picked one by one and was grateful that Heather bitch wasn't in her P.E class; she knew that she wouldn't have been able to hold her temper if she had to be teamed up with her as well. When the captains had been satisfied with their teams Astrid quickly noticed that Hiccup still hadn't been picked. He had his arms resting on his knees with his head resting on his arms as she saw the bored expression he wore; he didn't look even slightly surprised that he was last.

"Ok someone has to pick Hiccup" The coach announced. Astrid glared at her teacher; he didn't seem to care at all at how everyone was ignoring the boy. Their coach, Jim was in his late 20s, was well fit and muscular, he had short light blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She could tell just by looking at him the coach didn't really want to be here, he had a cocky like air to him that she didn't like.

"Awe but coach he's lame!" Eret wined.

"Yeah he'll be out in the first five seconds" Dagur argued.

Astrid unfolded her arms and allowed them to hang loosely as she rolled up her hands into a tight angry fist ready to strike. It was taking all of her will not to allow her bad temper to flare out at these people. How could they talk so cruelly and openly about him just because he couldn't hear them? Sure most students are probably used to being teased at least sometime in their life as people loved to snicker and gossip about people, but usually behind their backs, however these jerks were just doing it openly in front of the boy without any remorse just because he couldn't hear them, it frustrated the singer, how could Hiccup even try to defend himself if he didn't even know what was going on?

"I don't care someone has to pick him" Jim replied irritated. The coach never liked it when a student tried to argue back with him.

"Well I picked last so Dagur should get stuck with him" Eret replied.

"What no way! You already have a damn celebrity on your team, so you should have at least one crappy player on yours"

"Yeah!" The other students in Dagur's team agreed with their captain.

"Enough! Hiccup!" The coach shouts and turns to face the boy. The boy looks up at him warily as he can see the angry look when the coach had turned his focus on to him, he had given up on trying to follow everyone's lips a long time ago, but he knew that they had been arguing over him, it always ended like this. "You'll be on…"

"Our team" Astrid steps in front of Eret and cuts the coach off shocking everyone in the gym.

"Dude what the hell?!" Eret yells angrily.

Astrid ignores him and walks over to Hiccup, she holds out her hand to him as he stares at it questioningly. She rolls her eyes and grabs hold of his hand dragging the boy up onto his feet and over to the rest of her teammates as she tried her best to keep her cold deadly stare, but even she couldn't stop the very light blush across her cheeks. Astrid stops to stand behind the team leader with Hiccup now standing beside her, still very confused and stunned by what had just happened, did Astrid just pick him without Eret's content?

The other students didn't know what to do, they really wanted to gossip and whisper about what they had just witnessed, but judging by the dangerous glare they were getting from the singer no one dared to try and speak up.

"All right Miss Hofferson, while I appreciate you volunteering to add Hiccup to your team, please refrain yourself from cutting me off like that again"

"But coach this is my team!" Eret argued.

Jim rolled his eyes. "Eret if you don't stop with the attitude then you'll be sent to office and I'll have Astrid here take your spot as captain"

Astrid gave him her wicked grin as he glared at her. The coach finally blew his whistle and everyone quickly got into their positions.

By the end of the game Hiccup was breathing heavily as he sat on the bleachers in order to catch his breath. His body ached all over, but at that moment he really didn't care. Thanks to Astrid he had been able to last a lot longer than he ever had before. She had to stop a few of the balls from hitting him right in the face by catching them easily and striking right back at her opponent, during the game Hiccup prayed that he never had to be on the opposite team against Astrid. She was not only a gorgeous rock star, but she was really athletic to. Although Hiccup shouldn't have been at all surprised, when you have a stunning body like Astrid then it should have been pretty obvious that she had some form of tactic for keeping fit.

Astrid had just came out of the girl's locker room when she spotted Hiccup already changed but still catching his breath from all the running and dodging. She could easily see that the boy wasn't very athletic, but that didn't mean everyone had to make him such an easy target. It frustrated her how people treated him like he wasn't even there when they were talking about him, but they could all see him clearly when they wanted an easy victim to take down. She makes her way over to the boy and casually sits beside him. As she places her backpack onto the gym floor she pulls out a notebook to write to him.

Hiccup blinks when she suddenly shoves the notebook onto his lap. _**Try not to let those jerks get to you; they just don't have anything better to do with their boring lives. **_He looked over to see the singer with her arms folded and her face turned, but he could have sworn he saw a light blush on her frustrated features. Hiccup shakes his head he must have been seeing things. He uses the pen she gave him to write back. Astrid glances over at him and waits patiently for the notebook, even though class was over the coach usually gave the students about a five or ten minutes noticed before the bell would ring for lunch so that everyone had time to change and gather up their belongings for those who didn't have lunch and went straight to another class after gym. Hiccup finally hands the notebook back and rewards Astrid with a small but grateful smile.

_**Thank you for everything Astrid. You didn't have to pick me to be on the team like that, or stop those dodge balls from hitting me, but thank you. No one has ever stood up for me like that before. **_

Her blue eyes read the words a few times over and once again she couldn't understand how these people could treat someone like Hiccup so cruelly just because he was different. She eventually writes back as she tries to keep the violent thoughts she was having on these people away. _**No worries, now let's get going I'm hungry. Just don't go getting all emotional on me; if you do I'll punch you. **_

Hiccup glances up to see that beautiful smirk gracing across her lips as she stands up to place her backpack over her shoulder. He does the same action and shows her another sign. Astrid watched as the fingers of his right "5" hand were placed at the mouth and moved away from his mouth to a palm-up position before the body. He mouthed the words _**'Thank You'.**_

She smiled and gave him a light punch to his arm. "You're welcome, but enough with the mushy stuff" She grinned while he rubbed his now sore arm and rolled his eyes as he also smirked back playfully at the young singer. Although his body was in pain, it didn't matter to Hiccup, just being next to Astrid help him forget about all the bad things in his life and made him look forward to learning more about her. He hoped that one day she would allow him to call her his friend.

**To Be Continued**


	4. Chapter 4

**How to Live, Learn, and Love**

**Wow guys over 60 reviews already! I am so happy to see so much love for this story. I'm so sorry my updates aren't nearly as fast as I would like them to be, but unfortunately life just tends to get in the way. Anyway thanks again for all the love and the reviews, please keep it up! **

**Chapter 4**

It was finally Friday and by now the fact that a famous rock band had started going to school at Berk high had already become yesterday's news. Few people hardly ever bothered the group anymore, some tried to become friends with the band and wanted to hang out with them after school but the band simply explained that their schedules were just too busy. What with all their homework, studies, and band practice there just wasn't enough hours in the day for the group to have much free time. Although it wasn't a total lie Hiccup could tell that they just didn't want to be bothered by crazy fans outside of school and made up any excuse that they could think of.

It was the end of the day and Hiccup dreaded the thought of going to work tonight. He just wanted to sketch out his story and play with Toothless. Hiccup was gathering up the books that he would need for his weekend homework and placing the ones he didn't need away into his locker when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. It was Astrid. The young senior couldn't help but smile as he shut his locker to give the singer his full attention.

"I know you have to work today, but will you still get to hang out with us after the show tomorrow?" She asks. Her lips were slow enough for him to follow her every word.

He sighed as he pulled out his notebook, sure Hiccup would love nothing more than to hang out with Astrid and the band, but he had already communicated with his father and pleaded with him to let him take the time off, but he had refused his simple request. Because of the band's appearance their bar was going to be packed and busy tomorrow night; that meant a whole lot of dishes constantly needing to be cleaned for the bartenders, and a huge mess to clean up once the bar finally closed for the evening. As he writes down his answer he can only hope that Astrid doesn't become angry with him, this past week has been the best he's ever had at school. Thanks to Astrid P.E isn't a complete nightmare like it used to be, whenever the coach chose her to be the captain on whatever game they were playing she would always pick him first, he had never been picked first for anything! Even when Dagur and Eret would tease Astrid for picking him as her teammate she would just get back at them during whatever game they were playing for the day. For instance sometimes they played indoor hockey inside the gym and Astrid knew how to steal the puck from either boys with ease, it was like she could just glide across the floor in perfect motion, when they played dodge ball they could never dodge fast enough from her throws and man did they try, they were constantly playing dirty and trying to strike her down but she was always too quick for them and she was proud of it to, she always wore that cocky grin which only continued to frustrated them.

Clearing his thoughts about this past week from his mind Hiccup finally hands over the notebook to Astrid. _**I really want to, but because Dad is letting in underage drinkers inside the bar as well as adults, that means the place is going to be really packed. I'll be stuck in the kitchen doing dishes all night and then I'll have to clean the place up when it's time to close. **_Astrid frowns as she reads the note feeling really disappointed. Despite the pathetic bullies at this school and the tedious lectures, she found herself enjoying her time here at Berk high and although she would never admit it out loud she knew it was because of Hiccup. During their lunch times together with the rest of their little group he would teach her how to sign a few words at a time and she found herself absorbing the new language really well. Although she knew she still had a lot to learn she has secretly been researching about sign language on her lap top back at Gobber's mansion whenever she could.

On another note Astrid should have figured that Hiccup's father would force him to work on a busy night like tomorrow. Because of their show Stoick was allowing underage drinkers in for the night while the band played, of course they wouldn't be able to have any alcohol, but there would be plenty of water and soda for the younger crowd to enjoy. Once the show was over the bar owner would be kicking the nonalcoholic drinkers out of his bar.

"Maybe I can talk Gobber into helping you get the night off?" Astrid suggested as she handed the notebook back and folded her arms over her chest.

Hiccup blinks; he hadn't thought of that, if Gobber was on his side then he might just have a chance. He quickly writes back to the gorgeous singer. _**That just might work. Gobber and my dad have been friends for practically their whole lives. If anyone can change my dad's mind it would be Gobber. **_

Astrid grins. "Great, I'll talk to Gobber tonight and text you later"

"Hey Astrid come on! We've got to get to Gobber's place and practice for tomorrow night's show" Snotlout complains, as he and the rest of the band, along with Fishlegs make their way to the unique duo.

"Man I can't wait to rock it out tomorrow night" Tuffnut says excitedly.

"Yeah where going to kill it" Ruffnut agreed.

"What's it?" Tuffnut questions.

"It is the show idiot" Ruffnut rolls her eyes as she folds her arms over her chest.

"But if we kill the show then how do we get to do the show?" He scratches his head with a confused daze.

"It's an expression Tuffnut" Fishlegs explained patiently.

"Expression of what?" The brother looks even more confused than before.

"Ugg how am I related to you?" Ruffnut groans.

Tuffnut gives his sister a goofy idiotic smile. "Just lucky I guess"

"Guys are we going or what!?" Snotlout wines.

"Chill Snotlout where going" Astrid rolls her eyes, sometimes her bandmates could be so annoying. "Anyway I'll talk to Gobber. So we'll see you tomorrow?" She asks with a very small but beautiful smile.

Hiccup nods like an excited little kid and signs _**Thank You**_to the young singer. She grins and signs _**Your Welcome **_right back at him.

"Enough with the crazy hand movements and let's go already"

Astrid glares dangerously at her drummer who suddenly looks frighten as she finally makes her way over to stand beside him. "Say Snotlout" She says in a sickly sweet kind of tone.

"Umm yeah?" He questions carefully.

The young musician allows that cocky smirk to appear as she suddenly punches him hard in the shoulder. "See you all outside" Astrid replies and finally takes her leave.

"Owe, owe, owe!" Snotlout cries while rubbing his bruised shoulder.

"Dude you should have seen that one coming" Ruffnut laughed.

"Yeah even I knew she was going to do that" Tuffnut taunted.

"Whatever, let's just get going already" The drummer grumbles and makes his way towards the door that lead him to freedom. If it was one thing Snotlout hated it was school, sure he loved his popular status and was always found talking it up with the ladies, but he hated the academic experience and just couldn't wait for the year to be over. The twins said their goodbyes and quickly followed the rest of their band out into the parking lot.

"_**The Vikings are amazing!" **_Fishlegs turns to sign to his friend. His hands moving fast as the two of them finally begin to head outside as well. Hiccup couldn't wait to hear from Astrid again, he really hoped that she could get Gobber to help him have a night off, it would be amazing! When Hiccup and Fishlegs made it to their vehicles they said their goodbyes and parted ways.

Because it was Friday Hiccup wasn't at all surprised at how crowded the place was. His father was off getting drunk with some of the single ladies that Berk had, while he was stuck in the kitchen washing dishes. Although this job was tedious he at least got paid pretty well, almost 9 dollars an hour. He's been working here since he was 15 and has been saving every penny ever since. He has his own bank account and has a good amount of savings that he plans to use for college. His father probably isn't even aware of how much money he has been saving since he does pay for his car insurance, his cell phone bill, food for him and Toothless, his own necessity items, but the only thing he doesn't have to pay for is rent. It's thanks to that he is still able to put away a good amount of money each month into his account. Hiccup has always been smart; he knew that scholarships and financial aid could sometimes only get you so far, so he wanted to be prepared to have the money in case it was ever needed.

As he was doing his dishes with his bored expression, at the corner of his eye he noticed his father waling into the kitchen. Placing down another clean glass the boy faces his father and is worried by the anger he could see in his eyes.

"Hiccup you damn idiot" He says furiously.

Hiccup blinks and gives him that confused stare as he tries to figure why his father is angry. The frustrated father uses his little notebook that he keeps on him and writes down his angry and hateful words to his son. _**You damn brat, did you beg those rock stars to talk to Gobber for you into having a night off?**_

Hiccup gulps he didn't want to write back to him, he knew it wouldn't matter what his answer was, his father would still be angry, he should have known this would happen. Stoick grabs a fist full of his hair to force his son to look up at him. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have Gobber begging me for favors!?" He shoves the boy back and snatches the notebook. Hiccup nearly lost his footing but was thankfully somehow able to keep himself from falling.

_**Thanks to you I'm going to be one bartender short on one of the busiest night's ever all because you want to hang out with those pathetic punks! We all know they'll be long forgotten in a couple years, just like all teen pop stars are. Don't think that you aren't going to be punished for this when we get home. And I'm deducting half of your pay on your next pay check since I have to use a bartender to do your job tomorrow night. **_Stoick threw the notebook at Hiccup's face before finally walking out of the room and slamming the kitchen door behind him.

Hiccup allowed himself to fall to his knees as he read the hateful note, his body began to shake while fighting the stubborn tears that threaten to fall. Why did his father have to hate him so much? Couldn't he see that he just wanted to have friends, could his father see that this was his only chance to not feel so alone anymore? It was times like this when Hiccup really did miss his mother, his mother never allowed his father to treat him like this. On the one hand it was nice that he was finally having a day off, but he knew he was going to pay for it. As tears were about to fall he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket and pulls it out to see a text message, it was from Astrid.

_**Hey Hiccup, Gobber said that he was able to convince your dad to let you have the night off tomorrow! That means will all be able to hang out after the show. I know you won't be able to hear our music, but I do hope that you'll watch us play. If you don't want to then that's fine to, but the show will be over around 9 and it starts at 8 in case you're interested. **_

After reading the excited message even in his despair the young boy just couldn't help but smile. It amazed him how just a simple text message from Astrid filled his heart with joy, something he didn't get to experience very often in his life. In that moment it didn't matter whatever hell his dad was going to put him through, he would do it all over again just to make Astrid happy. He hoped that after tomorrow night that Astrid would really start to see him as a friend, he didn't want to feel so alone anymore. His body finally stops shaking as he begins to text back to the young singer. _**Yeah I just got the news from dad, I'll be here tomorrow night to see you guys play. Can't wait to see the show and hang out afterwards. **_

Hiccup uses the sink to help stand himself back up and just stares at the pile of dishes for a moment, his mind deep in thought. He knew once he got home tonight things were going to get ugly, but he had to be strong. He wanted to be able to hang out with Astrid and her friends more than anything so it didn't matter what hell he had to go through tonight. The boy shakes his head, why should he have to be punished for just wanting to spend time with other teens his own age? Why should he be punished for wanting to make friends, and why did he have to be constantly punished for being different!?

The rest of the night passed slowly for Hiccup as he dreaded the thought of returning home. When he finally did make it home his father was waiting for him. Hiccup could easily see Toothless was already outside once again scratching at the glass door trying to get back in. Just as Hiccup had placed his backpack on the floor he was instantly grabbed by the collar of his t-shirt bringing him close to his father. Hiccup could smell the alcohol stench all over his father.

"You damn ungrateful brat!" He spat into Hiccups face. Hiccup flinched at the hateful eyes Stoick gazed him with. Stoick tossed his son onto the floor harshly and suddenly started kicking him in the stomach violently. Hiccup cried out in pain as he curled up into a tiny ball desperately trying to protect himself. He didn't need to have his hearing to know how much his father hated him, usually during times like these he would dull his mind back to the happier times, back when his mother used to play with him, back when she used to teach him new words that always got him excited. She used to tell him all kinds of stories about mythical creatures all the while by using her hands to tell her stories. It was because of her that he started to draw. She have even given him his very first sketch book; he loved to draw the creatures she told in her stories. He knew that his mother took a lot of the blame on herself for his loss of hearing, but he wished that he could have told her he never blamed her for it. He wished he could have told her that she forgave them for their mistake, but he never did. There were times when he was constantly frustrated over being different, but he didn't mind the silence. It was safer to be in silent world. He didn't have to hear his father's hateful words, he didn't have to hear the townspeople's whispers about how pathetic he was, in his silent world his was safe from the mental abuse for the most part, but his silent world couldn't protect him from the physical abuse that he was force to endure.

Time eventually passed when his father must have finally become bored with beating him to near unconsciousness. Hiccup carefully looked up when the he didn't feel any more blows; he was slightly shaky as he watched his father finally let Toothless back inside. The dog growled dangerously at his father and Hiccup knew his friend wanted to strike. Hiccup slammed his hand against the wooden flood loud enough to gain his canine's attention. The husky looked over to his owner and saw the stern look as he shook his head no. Toothless wanted nothing more than to rip this man's head off; he couldn't understand why his owner wouldn't let him protect him from this beast. Stoick just ignored the dog's warning signs as he made his way to the living room after grabbing a beer bottle from the fridge.

Hiccup still laid on the floor in pain when his canine friend came over and rested beside him. "Hey bud" Hiccup mumbles as he places a hand on the husky's head. Toothless whimpered and moved closer to his human wishing he could take all the pain away. The boy gives his dog a small smile. "Don't worry, I'll be ok" His voice was scratchy and rough from all the screaming. It would be hard for anyone to really understand Hiccup's speech at this time, but Hiccup didn't care, he knew he didn't have to be clear for Toothless. Toothless seemed to always understand what he was saying, even if he wasn't all that clear with his speech. Despite his pain Hiccup knew it would be worth it, he would endure anything just to be able to spend some time with Astrid and see that beautiful smile again. Eventually sleep consumed his exhausted form as he rested his head on the husky's back and allowed his mind to escape from reality.

The next day was killer for Hiccup, he couldn't move without feeling every muscle scream at him in protest. Toothless whimpered as he watched his companion slowly stand up and carefully made his way over to his room. On his way to his room he passes the living room and isn't at all surprised to see his father completely passed out on the couch with the television probably at high volume and an empty beer bottle in his hand. Toothless growls softly but follows his owner when he sees him moving again. Hiccup knew he needed to change and shower, but all he wanted to was crawl under his covers and sleep more. He shakes his head and makes his way over to his closet to grab some clothes for the day. Toothless makes his way over to Hiccup's bed; he jumps onto the single size bed and makes himself comfortable.

After his shower Hiccup was dressed jeans, a green long sleeve shirt and comfortable sneakers. Hiccup knew that his ribs would be hurting for a while, he was pretty sure that they weren't broken, because he had been using his arms to shield most of the blows his father threw at him. Unfortunately that meant he had a lot of bruises all over his arms and even his stomach when he wasn't able to block some of the attacks last night. Thankfully his P.E clothes had long sleeve shirts and pants to wear if you didn't want to wear shorts or t-shirts, or for when it was cold. The nice thing about Berk was that the weather was almost always cool; and never too hot for a long sleeve shirt so people wouldn't question Hiccup's choice of clothes. Hiccup glanced at the clock on the night stand next to his bed and knew it would still be a long while before the show, it wasn't even 10a.m yet. He sighed wishing that he could see Astrid, seeing her would help him forget about last night. He decided to kill sometime he would go ahead and get his weekend homework out of the way.

By the time the young boy finished his homework and did some sketching it was nearly noon when he decided to take a break from his work. Toothless hopped off the bed and started wagging his tail with his tongue sticking it out excitedly at his owner. Hiccup just shook his head as he looked at his silly companion. "Ok bud, let's go outside" He smiled gently. That was all Toothless needed to hear as he rushed for the door and waited for his owner. The young senior grabs the leash that hangs on a nail by the front door and hooks it to his collar. Once outside Hiccup finally felt that he could breathe without worrying about his father coming after him, although he would be knocked out for a while Hiccup still felt better and more relaxed when he wasn't near his father. His body screamed in protest for him to stop moving but he refused, he needed to get used to moving around again so that nobody could see his pain tonight. While making his way to a nearby park Hiccup felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out to see a message from Astrid.

_**Hey Hiccup the band I are about to grab a bite to eat, we've been practicing all morning for the big show tonight. Anyway we just wanted to see if maybe you and Fishlegs wanted to tag along, we'll be at Slayer's Layer around 12:30 if you guys want to join us. **_

Slayer's Layer was another small restaurant in Berk, it wasn't nearly as popular as Alvin's but Hiccup knew better than to eat there, he hated Alvin and his son. Because Berk was such a small town Hiccup had been walking for a while before Astrid had texted him and he was already closer to the restaurant than he was to his own home he decided to just bring Toothless along with him. The small resturaunt had tables where you could enjoy you're food outside on a large front porch. Hiccup knew that Toothless would just lay beside him while he ate with Fishlegs and the band.

Before making his way over to the resturaunt Hiccup replies back to the singer. _**Sounds great, I'm in the middle of walking my dog Toothless so I'm already pretty close to the resturaunt, I'll see you when we get there and I'll text Fishlegs. **_He then proceeds to text Fishlegs and let him know about their lunch plans, the fanatic fan replies quickly that he'll be there.

_**Great well see you guys there! **_Astrid replied in her text. The young deaf boy couldn't help but smile as he thought about hanging out with the beautiful singer; she really was like a Goddess to Hiccup. He felt so lucky just be able to hang out with her. The walk wasn't long; by the time he got there he saw Astrid sitting on the porch rails closes to the steps that lead to the entrance of the small restaurant. She swung her legs freely as her hands rested on the rails while her attention was focused on the band and Fishlegs. Fishlegs and the rest of them were hanging out on the stairs.

"Dude killer dog!" Snotlout was the first to speak up as Hiccup and Toothless made their way over to the group.

"What's his name?" Astrid asks as she jumps down from the rails and kneels down in front of the gorgeous husky.

"That's Toothless" Fishlegs answered.

Astrid starts to pet Toothless behind the ears causing the dog to wag his tail happily, the proud dog owner smiled as he saw his new favorite person getting along so well with his best friend. "He's beautiful" Astrid replies as she continue to pet the friendly canine.

"Does he know any tricks?" Snotlout questions.

"He knows lots of tricks!" Fishlegs answered. He starts to sign to Hiccup. _**Show Dog Tricks Please. **_

Hiccup grins and nods, first he claps his hands to gain Toothless' attention. His canine ears perk up and he instantly turns around to face his owner and waits for his command. Hiccup has Toothless sit, roll over, play dead, speak, stay, come, ect. He does all this by using certain hand movements that he trained Toothless to understand with. Everyone is in awe, even Snotlout can't think of anything sarcastic to say.

"I want to sign a trick!" Tuffnut says excitedly.

"No I want to!" Ruffnut shouts.

"I called dibs first"

"Ladies first remember" Ruffnut taunts.

"Wait, you're a lady?" Tuffnut tilts his head surprised. Ruffnut just punches him hard on the head.

"If anyone deserves to command an awesome dog like Toothless it should be someone as awesome as me" Snotlout stated.

"So you move your hands like this?" Astrid asks Hiccup as the dog owner started to show her some command signs while the others had started to argue.

"Hey Astrid!" Snotlout cries.

Astrid glances over at her friends with an annoyed look. "What?" she replies.

"Who said that you get first dibs on dog command duty huh?" Snotlout argues. The twins grin and start to laugh; Snotlout gets annoyed and folds his arms over his chest. "What?!" He glares at the twins.

"You said duty" Tuffnut snickers with his sister.

"Can't we all just eat now, I'm getting really hungry" Fishlegs practically begs.

"Not until I get to show off my dog training skills" Snotlout complains.

Astrid rolls her eyes as she scratches Toothless behind the ears, rewarding him for following the hand signs that Hiccup had just showed her. "Snotlout you couldn't even keep that gold fish you won at the carnival we went to alive for more than a few days. And since when were you ever a dog expert?" The singer questions.

"Are you kidding I've always loved dogs, there way cooler than some lame gold fish" He explains.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm going to get something to eat" Astrid replies as she makes her way up the stairs to the porch.

"Finally! Someone is making since now" Fishlegs happily follows the singer.

"Fine we can eat now, but as soon as were done I get to do the dog tricks first"

Hiccup soon follows the gang with Toothless right beside him. When he made it to the table that the group was hanging out at he noticed an empty spot right next to Astrid. He wondered if he should sit next to her but didn't want to push is amazingly good luck that he has been having with the young and beautiful singer. Astrid looks up at Hiccup and could see the nervous and uncertain gaze in his eyes as he tried to decide where to sit. She rolls her eyes and stands herself up to walk over to the confused and shy boy; the singer gently grabs hold of the sleeve to shirt and drags him over to sit next to her. Toothless follows his owner and lays himself down right between the seats where Hiccup and Astrid now sat at. During lunch Hiccup showed a few new signs to Astrid and the gang, even Snotlout started to get into the language as the group also talked about their band practice and what songs they planned to play tonight.

When lunch was over Snotlout had called for Toothless to hang out near the restaurant and the playful dog happily made his way over to the excited teenager. The twins; and Fishlegs also came over to play with the friendly canine while Astrid and Hiccup stayed at the table watching their friends and chatting about random things, well Hiccup signing or writing in his little notepad that he would keep in his pocket.

As Astrid enjoyed her time with the shy boy that slowly began to open up with her more like he did whenever he felt comfortable enough to communicate with her she felt her cellphone vibrating in her pocket. Her eyes instantly became cold and void of emotion when she saw who had just left her a text message. Hiccup frowns when he notices the sudden change in Astrid; he uses his notebook and places it in front of her.

_**Is something wrong? **_

Astrid sighs she didn't want to talk about it, but these messages were really starting to irritate her, she never liked talking about her personally problems with anyone, not even the band if she could help it. But something about Hiccup made her feel safe? She felt as though she could maybe tell him things and he wouldn't judge her like so many others would. Finally caving into the worried stare she hands her phone over so that he could read the message. _**Astrid this is your dad again, please come and visit me soon, I really miss you! **_

Hiccup didn't understand, what was wrong with her dad wishing to see her? He looks at her confused and he hated the exhausted look on her, he wanted to see her smiling and laughing like she had been just moments ago.

"My dad and I have a bad history" She explains slowly and as calmly as she possibly can. Just thinking of that bastard made her blood boil inside, but she remained calm on the outside. Hiccup placed a gentle hand over hers; she looks into his eyes and felt as though he could understand her. She knew that he had father issues like she did, even if she didn't know the details it didn't matter, they both understood each other without words of explanation. "He's been texting me ever since I arrived back to this place. I know he only really wants to see me so that he can ask me for more money, but I refuse to give that man anything, but part of me wonders maybe this time he really does just want to see me" She sighed again. It amazed her how opened she found herself being with Hiccup; she never talked this much with anyone unless it was during band practice about music with the gang.

Hiccup removes his hand and oddly enough Astrid finds herself missing the warm and gentle touch, she shakes her head to clear those unwanted thoughts as she realized that the boy was writing something down for her. Once done he finally hands the small notepad over to her. _**I know that we have only known each other for a very short amount of time, but I also know how difficult fathers can be. If you ever need some kind of support system to come along with you if or when you ever decide to visit him I'll be there whenever you need me. **_The singer's heart pounds heavily against her chest as the warm words silently comfort her, just what was this shy boy doing to her?

"Thank you Hiccup, you're a good friend" She gives him a beautiful smile that he swears he'll never forget. He couldn't believe it; she actually called him friend!

After that the band eventually had to get back to practice, but Astrid didn't want to leave this silent sweet boy, she wanted to hang out more, learn more about him, even learn more words from him, but she had to practice. The singer sighs as she looks at the time on her phone. "Sorry Hiccup, but the band and I really need to get back to practice" she explains. She sees the light in his eyes slowly become filled with disappointment and she hated that she was the cause of it, but she had tonight to be with him at least.

He starts to write back to her. _**That's ok we've got tonight to hangout. **_Astrid looks up to see his shy smile and the rock star couldn't help but smile back. She was about to get up when another text vibrates in order to gain her attention. Looking down at her phone her whole body freezes at the message that shows her father's true nature. Hiccup easily sees the small hint of fear in those angry blue eyes; he instantly gets up and snatches the phone before Astrid could even have the time to protest.

_**You ungrateful bitch, after raising you all on my own you can't even take the time to come visit your father!? **_

"Hiccup!" Astrid says stunned by his action.

Hiccup hands Astrid her phone back and quickly writes back to the singer. _**Whatever he says Astrid please don't see this man alone. **_Although Hiccup knew he didn't have any right to interfere with Astrid's family problems something about that message really shook him up. He could almost imagine the angry father ready to lash out on Astrid at any moment if she were to go and see him alone. Just because he had to deal with an abusive father he prayed that Astrid never had to.

Astrid blanks at the frantic plea and desperate look in Hiccup's forest green eyes. "Trust me Hiccup I can handle my father" Astrid says stubbornly. She couldn't understand why this boy was suddenly so worried. Sure her dad sounded scary, but she knew her father was all bark and no bite. Not giving Hiccup the chance to continue his plea she turns over to gain her band's attention. "Hey guys it's time to get back to work let's go!" she shouts.

Hiccup quickly follows the singer down the steps. She stops not too far from the group and places her hands on her hips just as Hiccup taps her on the shoulder. She glances beside her to see him signing the word Please; and Dangerous.

Astrid rolls her eyes stubbornly. "I'm telling you Hiccup my father is all bark and no bite, I know how to handle him. Beside I doubt I'll even ever visit that creep anyway, so stop worrying about it ok" She explains.

Hiccup wanted to argue back more but he also didn't want Astrid to start hating him, she had just called him friend for the first time today and he really didn't want to lose her friendship. Maybe her father really was just how Astrid claimed him to be, but he just couldn't help but worry about her. She doesn't deserve to be abused by her own family; Hiccup wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone, not even on to the people who have constantly abused him since childhood. The gang said their goodbyes and headed back to the mansion, Fishlegs said he had to get home and get some chores done before tonight and also took off. Hiccup sighed once he found himself alone again; he felt a light nudge from Toothless and smiled sadly as he petted his best friend. The young boy really didn't want to return home, he knew by now that his father would be up and wouldn't arrive to the bar till later tonight. Although Hiccup didn't want to return home he knew he had to, he was almost done with a chapter of his art work and wanted to try and finish it before tonight, he also knew that Toothless was probably hungry by now and needed to feed his loyal canine.

"Let's go bud" He says in a soft voice. Toothless wags his tale excitedly as they make their way back home. During the walk back all Hiccup could think about was that hateful message and that small hint of fear he saw flash through Astrid eyes. He knew she had a tough attitude and could easily see that the singer didn't like to show any kind of weakness to anyone, but he also knew that he would be keeping a watchful eye on her until he was absolutely certain that her father really wasn't any kind of threat to her.

**To Be Continued! **


End file.
